Last week an Irish Facebook friend and Tudor enthusiast suggested we put more art on Facebook. He asked me to post something about Hans Holbein. I began with Holbein’s famous painting of Henry VIII, but couldn’t resist – I had to share family members painted by the great man.

I’ve noticed some of the people who sat for Holbein seemed somewhat awkward about or uncomfortable with the situation. I am most haunted by our Sir Henry Wyatt.

Sir Henry Wyatt Knight

His painting is oil on oak, only 15.4″ x 12.2.” According to Wikipedia, which does a nice job of documenting the art they share with us, it’s in the Louvre Museum, on the second floor, room 8.

This is the face that endured the application of horse barnacles during torture ordered by Richard III. He was only 23 when imprisoned and locked away until the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He lived with that face for a long time.

“In the Louvre picture Sir Henry is represented at half-length, slightly turned to the right, wearing a black skull-cap over his long hair, and the customary overcoat with deep fur collar, and green under-sleeves ; from his shoulders hangs a large heavy gold chain, to which a gold cross is attached, which he grasps with his right hand, and holds a folded paper in his left. He is clean-shaven, and has a large rounded nose. The wrinkled face, the small tremulous mouth, and the tired eyes with the sadness of their expression, produce a very life-like effect of old age. The chain is put on with real gold, in a way which Holbein practised from time to time in England.” Hans Holbein the Younger: Volume 1 by Arthur Bensley Chamberlain

Susan Foister, author of Holbein in England, ISBN 1854376454 wrote “the sitter appears to have lost his teeth.”

Experts think it was painted around 1537 – around the same time as his son’s portrait and very near the time of his death. Sir Henry was born in 1460, died at 76 or 77 on 10 November, 1537.

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Poet …

He would have been around 34 in 1537. Wikipedia tells us this is “Black and coloured chalks, pen and ink on pink-primed paper, 37.3 × 27.2 cm, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle.” One of my books (Holbein by Jane Roberts) says it was “Black and coloured chalks and ink applied with pen and brush on pink prepared paper 37.1 x 27 cm.” We’re told Holbein also drew a profile portrait.

According to Holbein’s Drawings at Windsor Castle by Phaidon, “On a pale pink priming, 14 11/16 x 10 11/16”: chalks: black, red (face, patch at shoulder on left, another on chest), brown (beard); reinforced with the pen in indian ink (hair, beard). Eyes: grey-blue. Inscribed (gold and scarlet) in left upper corner Tho: Wiatt Knight. The face is considerably stained.”

Phaidon also mentions “Another portrait of Wyatt by Holbein is also lost. From it derive the small circular woodcut which appeared in Leland’s Naeniae in mortem ?Thomae Viati, 1542, and two circular paintings, in reverse to the woodcut, in the Bodleian Library and National Portrait Gallery.” I think this refers to the following image:

So then, what’s this? Wikipedia says “A high-quality copy of this drawing by another hand survives, perhaps from the Elizabethan period (K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Hans Holbein at Windsor Castle, Oxford: Phaidon, 1945.” (I don’t like it.)

Sir Thomas Wyatt was born in 1503 at Allington Castle; he died at a friend’s house, age 38 or 39, on 11 October, 1542.

This is Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee– Sir Henry’s only daughter, Sir Thomas’ sister, dear friend of Anne Boleyn. Apparently Margaret was also known as Mary, so Wikipedia is confused about “which sister” was Anne’s loyal Lady in Waiting. She looks so different from her father and brother, I wonder if she took after her mother – Anne Skinner.

Wikipedia dates it at about 1540, tempera on panel, 16.7 × 12.9″ – currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Margaret was the mother of Sir Henry Lee, Queen Elizabeth’s champion. (Check it out; I swear I can see some Wyatt in his painting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Henry_Lee)

Some think this Holbein may be Elizabeth Brooke, wife of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Poet.

According to Holbein’s Drawings at Windsor Castle by Phaidon, “The inscription is certainly incorrect, the features showing no resemblance whatever with the well authenticated drawing of Anne Boleyn in Lord Bradford’s possession… It is possible that there is indirect evidence of the sitter’s identity in the occurrence of various heraldic sketches on the reverse of the drawing, these being the coat-of-arms of the Wyatt family.”

Her brother was George Brooke, 9th Baron of Cobham. Do we see a resemblance? I think so, but it’s hard to say.

Sir Thomas Wyatt’s brother-in-law took part in the trail of Anne Boleyn and got caught up in his son’s rebellion against Queen Mary.

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was born in 1521. He was about 15 or 16 when his grandfather died, 20 or 21 when his father died. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion opposing Queen Mary’s desire to marry Philip of Spain. Henry’s grandson was executed at 32 or 33 at Tower Hill on 11 April 1554.

“Provenance: Presumably commissioned by sitter’s father Sir Thomas Wyatt Senior (1503 – 1542), Thence likely by descent to sitter and dispersed with his property after his execution in 1554; With J. Tremlett Esq. by whom sold; Christie’s, 22 November 1974, lot 152”

Other close friends of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Poet were painted by Holbein, but let us not end this post without adding the Wyatt family’s powerful friend Thomas Cromwell.

Painted between 1532 and 1533, oil on oak panel, 30.9 × 25.4″.

According to Wikipedia, “Three early versions of this painting survive: this one, in the Frick Collection, New York; one in the National Portrait Gallery, London (see ‘other versions’ below); and one at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, England. Art scholar Roy Strong believed that all three were copies and, while the condition of all three is poor, that the Frick version is in the best condition. Art scholar John Rowlands, however, has since deduced from pentimenti (signs of alteration) revealed by X-ray photographs that the Frick version shows the hand of Holbein himself and is the original. He is followed in this attribution by art scholar Stephanie Buck. All three versions had scrolls painted above Cromwell’s head, but the scroll on the Frick version, which was painted after Cromwell’s execution, was removed during restoration. The painting has been over-restored, resulting in the removal of much of the surface subtlety characteristic of Holbein.”

This should be a convenient starting-place for “cousins” who are just starting to pull their trees together.

Adam Wyatt
Born 1320 in Yorkshire, England
Died 1385 in Yorkshire, England
Married Agnes Wigton
Born 1330 in Norwoods, London, England
Died 1385 in Southange, Yorkshire, England

Son William Wyatt
Born 1350 in Southange, Yorkshire, England
Died 1388 in Southange, Yorkshire, England
Second wife Jane Bailiffe
Born 1355
Died 1372

Son Robert Wyatt
Born 1372 in Southange, Yorkshire, England
Died 1440 in Southange, Yorkshire, England
Married Jane Skipwith
Born 1395 in South Haigh Mexborough, Yorkshire, England

Son Geoffrey Wyatt
Born 1410 in Southange, Yorkshire, England
Died 1460 in Southhenge, Surrey, England
Married Anne Skipwith – a cousin (?)
Born 1411 in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England
Died 1443 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England

Son Richard Wyatt, Sheriff
Born 1428 in South Haigh Mexborough, Yorkshire, England
Died 1478 in Kent, England – not at Allington, the Wyatts didn’t own it yet
Married Lady Margaret Jane Bailiffe or Clarke
Born 1438 in Yorkshire, England
Died 1460 in Boxley, Kent, England

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Poet, a.k.a. Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder
Friend of /diplomat and ambassador for Henry VIII.
Born 1503 in Allington, Kent, England
Henry VIII had him deliver the Imperial Ambassador to London and he got sick from the heat and died at 39 years of age on 11 October 1542.
Married Elizabeth Brooke
The unhappy marriage did not last long.
She was born 1503 in Cobhamhall, Kent, England
After Sir Thomas’ death, Elizabeth remarried Sir Edward Warner, Lord Lieutenant of the Tower. When she died 10 October 1542, she was buried on Tower grounds.

(Interesting: After Henry VIII elbowed our Sir Tom out of Anne Boleyn’s circle, he took Elizabeth Darrell as his mistress. She was one of Katherine of Aragon’s few trusted servants. Katherine left money for Elizabeth’s eventual marriage, but that didn’t happen until both Sir Thomases were deceased. She had three children by Sir Thomas Wyatt the Poet and/or Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger. Potentially tawdry, I know. After Wyatt’s Rebellion one of her sons was executed with his father or half-brother – depending on what you choose to believe.)

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder’s son by his wife, Elizabeth Brooke –

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger
One of the leaders of “Wyatt’s Rebellion” against Queen Mary Tudor
Born 1521 in Allington Castle
Died a traitor’s death 11 April 1554 for his role in the rebellion against Queen Mary (Wyatt’s Rebellion)
Married Lady Jane Hawte or Haute
Born 1522 in Bishopsbourne and Wavering, Kent, England
Died 1600 in Boxley, Kent, England

Sir George Wyatt
First biographer of Anne Boleyn, still quoted.(See footnotes for Allison Weir’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII.)
Born 1550 in Kent, England
Died 1625
Married Lady Jane Finch 8 Oct 1582, Caswell, Kent, England
She was born 1555 in Eastwell, Kent, England, Great Britain
Died at the age of 89 in Allington Castle, Kent, England, Great Britain
Buried 27 March 1644 in Boxley, Kent, England, Great Britain

Captain John Wyatt
(First of four sequential John Wyatts)
Born 1630 in Boxley, Kent, England
Died 1666 in Gloucester, Gloucester, Virginia, United States
Married Jane Osborne
Born 1622 in Boxley, Kent, England
Died 1665 in Gloucester, Virginia, USA.

John Wyatt
(Second of four sequential John Wyatts)
Born 1663 in Boxley, Kent Co., England
Died 1684 in Gloucestor, Carolina, Virginia, United States
Married Anne Jones
Born 1663 in Lancaster, Virginia, United States
Died date unknown, Rappahannock, Virginia, United States

Captain John Wyatt
(Third of four sequential John Wyatts)
Born 1684 in Gloucestor, Carolina, Virginia, USA
Died November 1750 in Plaindealing, Caroline, Virginia, USA
Married Jane Pamplin
Born 1690 in Rickling, Essex, England
Died 1750 in Caroline, Virginia, USA

John Wyatt
(Fourth of four sequential John Wyatts)
Born 1731 in St George Parish, Caroline, Virginia, United States
Died 1 Mar 1785 in Gloucestor, Carolina, Virginia, United States
Married Elizabeth Ballard Smith
Born 19 Apr 1740 in Louisa, Virginia, United States
Died 13 Aug 1766 in Orange, Virginia, United States

James R. Wyatt
Born 1792 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, USA
Died 1840 in Pendleton, Kentucky, USA
Married Rachel Rice
Born 1797 in Virginia, USA
Died 1860 (after)

Daughter Sarah Jane Wyatt
Born 1823
Died 1915
Husband William T. Clayton
Born about 1823 in Nicholas Co., KY
Died 15 Jan 1863 in Civil War

James C. Clayton
Born 24 Aug 1859 in Pendleton Co., KY
Died after 1900 in Harrison Co., KY
Married Roselle E. (Rosa) Simpson
Born May 1869 in Harrison Co., KY
Died AFT 1900 in Harrison Co., KY

Annie Mariah Clayton
Born Apr 1891 in Harrison Co., KY
Died September 6, 1954
Husband Jesse T Bolen
Born May 1887 in Indiana
Left his wife and son, moved to Oregon & started a new family
Died 1946, buried in Crescent Grove Cemetery, Tigard, Oregon

So much emphasis is put on Sir Thomas Wyatt when it is his wife, Elizabeth Brooke, who gives the Wyatts their/our rich legacy. Elizabeth’s line goes back beyond the Dukes of Normandy. The most exciting experience in putting this book together was learning that the Dukes of Normandy claim a line of descent from epic Norse and Icelandic sagas.

Rollo, First Duke of Normandy

Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy was born about 860 and died about 932. Encyclopeadia Britannica states that Rolf was a “Scandinavian rover who founded the duchy of Normandy.

Making himself independent of King Harald I of Norway, Rolf sailed off to raid Scotland, England, Flanders, and France on pirating expeditions and, about 911, established himself in an area along the Seine River. Charles III the Simple of France held off his siege of Paris, battled him near Chartres, and negotiated the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, giving him the part of Neustria that came to be called Normandy; Rolf in return agreed to end his brigandage. He gave his son, William (I) Longsword, governance of the dukedom (927) before his death.

Rolf was baptized as ‘Robert’ in 912 but is said to have died a pagan.”

(Courtesy of The Encyclopeadia Britannica Web Site prior to their reverting to a pay service.)

I had always heard that Sir Thomas Wyatt was a rogue, romantically speaking. Despite his marriage to Elizabeth Brooke, he was pursuing her second cousin, Anne Boleyn. (Elizabeth’s mother was Anne’s aunt. The Brooke coat of arms at left.)

Then today I saw that Wikipedia blames Elizabeth for problems in the marriage. They say she “separated from Thomas Wyatt and openly lived in adultery. He refused to financially support her, and after pursuing Anne Boleyn before her relationship with the King, he started a long-term affair with Elizabeth Darrell. In 1540, they were forced by Henry VIII to reconcile. This was as Wyatt had been accused of treason and only the begging of Catherine Howard had saved his life.”

Wikipedia is, of course, not monitored for accuracy. I discovered “Tudordaughter at blogspot.” This “distant cousin” has a completely different perspective:

“My family vine reaches back through thousands of years, through Kings and Emperor’s, but one of my most fascinating ancestors is by far my 11th great grandmother Elizabeth Brooke born in Cobhamhall, Kent England 1503 the daughter of Thomas Brooke the 8th Earl of Cobhamhall. She married my 11th great grandfather Sir Thomas Wyatt the poet who was madly in love with Anne Boleyn and wrote sonnets for her. This is of course while he was married to Elizabeth. Thomas and Elizabeth had two children a daughter Anne and my 10th great grand father Sir Thomas Wyatt the rebel who led the rebellion against Queen Mary advocating to put Jane Gray back in power as queen. He was later executed with Jane’s father Henry.

Elizabeth and Thomas had marital problems from the very beginning. I would largely suspect it had much to do with my great grandfathers roving eye, and love for Anne Boleyn. Thomas filed for a legal separation on the grounds of Elizabeth being “an adulteress” funny thing was that he could never produce any specific man that she was having an affair with. Nevertheless he kicked her out in 1537 forcing Elizabeth to live with her brother, Lord Cobham, refusing to pay support for his adulteress wife. Funny isn’t it that he was still carrying on his affair with Elizabeth Darrell. In 1541 Wyatt was arrested and his properties all confiscated. The Brooke family took advantage of this state of affairs and forced a reconciliation as a condition of Wyatt’s pardon. Apparently Lord Cobham had a lot of clout with King Henry. It doesn’t appear that Elizabeth ever went back to her home with Thomas. He would die in 1542.”

HANG ON, IT GETS EVEN MORE INTERESTING. I DID NOT KNOW THIS.

“It was early in 1542 that Lady Wyatt’s (Elizabeth) name crops up in Spanish dispatches as one of the three ladies in whom Henry VIII was said to be interested as a possible sixth wife. Any candidate had to be a direct descendant of Edward III. Elizabeth had an impeccable pedigree one that was even more princely than the King. However after his 5th wife Catherine Howard it was of up most importance that the King marry himself a wife with a spotless reputation. The scandal surrounding Elizabeth and Thomas caused the King to look elsewhere. Thank goodness for small miracles!!!!

Following Wyatt’s death Elizabeth would marry Edward Warner, Lord Lieutenant of the Tower. She died at the Tower in August 1560 and buried there within it’s precincts. Elizabeth was Anne Boleyn’s 2nd cousin, her grandmother would be Anne’s Aunt. I have to wonder what she felt about Anne and her husbands attachment to her. Did she hate her? Was this the reason she found herself a lover? I do not believe that Thomas, her husband ever wrote any sonnets for her.I love this woman, my great grandmother. What a life she led. She was right there in the middle of it all, married to one of Anne’s lovers, cousin to the queen, losing her son on the Tower Green.